Month: February 2008

Just a reminder that tomorrow is UMW Sunday. The UMW will be leading worship during both services.

An excellent prayer from Thomas Merton:

MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

—Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude
© Abbey of Gethsemani

From the Etruscan Art Virtual Museum glossary:
“Pyxis – a cylindrical ceramic container with a lid.”

Have you seen this Ash Pyxis?

If so please let us know. It contains palm ash for our Ash Wednesday observance. We have more palms that can be burned to make palm ash, so all is not lost, but it sure would be nice to find it. Bob asked me when I remembered seeing it last. I told him last year on Ash Wednesday.

Tomorrow’s Wednesday Gathering will be an Ash Wednesday Service. It will be at the regular time 7:15 pm.

That pretty much says it all.

I plan to post more information about why we moved later. But right now this blog needs a better name. Any suggestions?

In case you were wondering, here’s what I’m giving up for Lent:

1. Velveeta and all processed cheese food products.
2. Absorbing other people’s anxiety.

It’s that second one that’s going to take some work. Now I know fasting should be done in private, but: 1) my negotiations with a certain party over what I should give up for lent have been pretty public, 2) I hoping to set an example of the varieties of things one can give up for lent and 3) Sometimes, in my effort to feel empathy and compassion for others, I take on more of their anxiety than is appropriate. When I do that I don’t tend to be a calm leader or the most effective helper that I can be. So, for the next seven weeks I promise that I will focus on being a calm presence for you. I thought you ought to know.

If you want to see what April Foreman is giving up for lent visit www.bricktownblog.com.

The January 30, 2008 Newsletter is now up on the “downloads” page at www.coffeyvillefirstumc.org.